I am on a kick for simple games right now. Games which don’t require peripheries, manuals, or the critical parts of my brain. Games in which I hit things. Castle in the Darkness fits the bill – a Metroidvania platformer about jumping, slashing at things with an enormous pixellated sword and flipping switches. It’s being published by stalwarts Nicalis and is due out as soon as this summer, and the announcement trailer below is about as old-fashioned as games come.

From the YouTube video description:

Castle in the Darkness is a retro-styled exploration platformer coming to Steam this summer. Inspired by games like Castlevania, Megaman, Kirby, Metroid, Zelda, I Wanna Be The Guy, Ys and a lot more, look forward to a very challenging open-world game that is full of references, secrets, monsters, items, and modes!

I don’t have nostalgic feelings for this era of game design or any of those aforementioned games, but there’s something relaxing about the thought of playing a platformer that’s just doing a simple thing well with straightforward movement physics and tile art like mum used to make. It’s not even procedural. Imagine that.

In all seriousness, while I was ready to dismiss it as another generic retro/platformer/metroidvania, the trailer actually looked pretty good. I love these kinds of games, so, if it’s good, I’ll definitely give it a go.